Autorickshaw drivers fleecing passengers is among the most common complaints that the city residents raise. However, according to the Transport Department, it has received only 231 public complaints via the toll-free number since this January, including many that had little or no actionable details, making it hard for them to crackdown on the erring drivers, officials said.

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Chennai:

The toll-free number to lodge complaints was introduced in 2015 to make the auto drivers comply with the government rules and regulations. These complaints are forwarded to the RTOs, and the authorities from the respective RTOs will take action against the drivers. 

According to regular passengers, however, the problems of the passengers remain unabated despite the introduction of the facility. The common complaints include overcharging, violating traffic rules, rash driving and abusing passengers.

“The autorickshaws never ply at the government fixed fares. They charge us exorbitantly and abuse us if we try to remind them about the government rules and regulations,” said S Vignesh, a resident of Tiruvanmiyur.

However, the Transport officials paint a different picture. Since 2015, the department had received only 2,300 complaints, and action was taken against 1,600 drivers so far. Though the RTO receives 10 complaints a week, the officials were able to initiate action only on 60 cases, as the rest were untraceable.

“We have acted on the complaints without any delay. But a majority of the grievances are incomplete, without crucial details like the vehicle number and location. It is tough to trace the offender and impound his vehicle without the registration number. In such cases, we have no other go but to let go off the complaints,” said an official.

The department has a phone-based system in place where a recorded voice prompts the caller to register their grievances with the complete details. But many are ignoring it. “To rectify this issue, we are planning to replicate the system employed by other service providers. We are going to play a recorded message seeking answers for all the mandatory queries to ensure that the further process is carried out properly.”

Violation of rules entails punishments including cancellation of vehicle permits. Meanwhile, the Madras High Court directed the department to penalise offenders with a penalty of Rs 1,500.